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The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Richard_Skull For This Useful Post:

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

Hibbert's development is just fine. My vote is for as little time and grinding on his body as possible in the off season. Big guys like that need to be careful about the mileage they're putting on their bodies.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

My understanding is that this is more-or-less just a short thing, a practice for USA basketball, I don't think Hill will be good enough to do actual competition. Just playing with some of the best talent and getting a look and instruction from another great coaching staff will offer more avenues for improvement.

OTOH, Paul George will probably be on the USA team at some point. We'll see then if its a hindrance or not. IMO, just doing it for a few years wouldn't hurt, but some players make a second career out of it.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

My understanding is that this is more-or-less just a short thing, a practice for USA basketball, I don't think Hill will be good enough to do actual competition. Just playing with some of the best talent and getting a look and instruction from another great coaching staff will offer more avenues for improvement.

OTOH, Paul George will probably be on the USA team at some point. We'll see then if its a hindrance or not. IMO, just doing it for a few years wouldn't hurt, but some players make a second career out of it.

Unless he gets hurt, Paul George is a stone cold lock for the 2014 World Championship team.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

Exactly. Following his twitter I think he already has been playing in some pick-up games at colleges and schools in San Antonio when he's down there. And he usually always plays in the Knox Indy Pro-Am at IUPUI. Those are probably more challenging than the team USA practices.

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

Note that the next Olympic year is 2016, so chances are good that it's going to be these guys who will be playing for Team USA for the next 2 years (notably the 2014 World Cup in Spain). Anyone wants to try handicapping the guys who will make the team?

The guys who are closest to being locks IMO are Anthony Davis, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving. Hill won't make the cut IMO due to the ridiculous depth at guard. He's up against former Select members like Wall and Holiday, plus the likes of Conley, Lillard, and Lawson.

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

I think Paul George is on the 2016 Olympic team as long as he continues to progress upward a bit. I've heard stuff from a lot of the SF/SG spots not wanting to do the Olympic grind again. (mainly I had heard Kobe and LeBron)

"It's just unfortunate that we've been penalized so much this year and nothing has happened to the Pistons, the Palace or the city of Detroit," he said. "It's almost like it's always our fault. The league knows it. They should be ashamed of themselves to let the security be as lax as it is around here."

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

NBA.com: So how does a player make a positive impression on you next week?
Colangelo: In our minds, what players do on the floor and off the floor are equally important. How they get along with one another, how they relate to the coaching staff, how attentive they are in our meetings…

I’ll give you an example. Paul George last summer was on the Select Team, getting our Olympic Team ready. We saw a lot in Paul George. This kid was really coming. And of course, that translated into a terrific year in the NBA season. But throughout the season, he was quoted as saying things about what he learned during his time with USA Basketball and how much he wanted to be a part of it. So it works both ways.

Reading too much into it maybe, but for him to specifically name PG as an example is pretty cool. He probably really is a lock for Team USA next year.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

George Hill pulled out.

LAS VEGAS -- Indiana Pacers point guard George Hill has pulled out of this week's Team USA camp in Las Vegas due to a scheduling conflict.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo says he doesn't know the exact reason Hill canceled. He says he wants to find out what led to Hill's decision before he makes any determination on the gritty Pacers guard's future chances with the team.

Forward Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls also pulled out of the camp due to an ankle injury, Team USA announced.

Team USA is scheduled to kick off a four-day camp on Monday to start preparing for the 2014 World Cup in Madrid. The Americans have already qualified for the tournament, so a group of 28 younger players are coming in for a camp to get acquainted with coach Mike Krzyzewski and the staff.

Hill averaged 14.8 points and a career-high 4.9 assists for the Pacers last season. Gibson averaged 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Bulls.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

George Hill was in China in late June, and has returned to the US.

When he was there for a media briefing, I asked him if he would join the USA Selects along with Paul. He already told me he has scheduled a kid's camp in texas, and he does not want to let the kids down. He has made up his mind to skip back then, but when Kawhi pulled out, the US invited him again, and George Hill today just once again decided to stick with the kids.

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo says he doesn't know the exact reason Hill canceled. He says he wants to find out what led to Hill's decision before he makes any determination on the gritty Pacers guard's future chances with the team.

If keeping your word to a kid's camp is enough to possibly create a grudge with Colangelo regarding Team USA, then shame on Jerry Colangelo. The fact that George is keeping his word to the kids over working with Team USA speaks even more highly of his character.

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Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

If keeping your word to a kid's camp is enough to possibly create a grudge with Colangelo regarding Team USA, then shame on Jerry Colangelo. The fact that George is keeping his word to the kids over working with Team USA speaks even more highly of his character.

Yea, Colangelo shouldn't blame him. On the other hand, I don't think GHill really cares. He probably knew he probably wouldn't make it. He was the oldest on the squad by 2 years. His time is probably better spent with the kids.

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

If keeping your word to a kid's camp is enough to possibly create a grudge with Colangelo regarding Team USA, then shame on Jerry Colangelo. The fact that George is keeping his word to the kids over working with Team USA speaks even more highly of his character.

Right, but to be fair to Jerry, he said he didn't know the reason why and that he wanted to find that out before making a determination, so it's not like he was saying he has a grudge and that he knows why Hill backed out. I think there will not be a grudge.

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

Right, but to be fair to Jerry, he said he didn't know the reason why and that he wanted to find that out before making a determination, so it's not like he was saying he has a grudge and that he knows why Hill backed out. I think there will not be a grudge.

Hence the "possibly".

"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "
Want your own "Just Say No to Kamen" from @mkroeger pic? http://twitpic.com/a3hmca

Re: George Hill added to USA mini-camp, Kawhi Leornard to skip.

Right, but to be fair to Jerry, he said he didn't know the reason why and that he wanted to find that out before making a determination, so it's not like he was saying he has a grudge and that he knows why Hill backed out. I think there will not be a grudge.

The timing seems inconvenient to me. The story came out last night and I think the USA mini-camp starts today. So did Hill pull out at the last minute and not give Jerry enough time to replace him? It's the timing that might reflect poorly on Hill.

Larry is not coming back, he didn't have a meeting with Orlando for not reason, yeah he is coming back to the NBA but not to the Pacers, the notion that he is a taking a year off and then come back is absurd.